Team America: September 2004

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Action Plan up to January 23, 2005

Between today, October 1, 2004, and the first day of the next presidency, which commences on Monday, January 23, 2005, Team America can begin to reshape the course of American politics and the presidency. Particularly since the outcome of November 2 may be highly contentious and litigious, Team America needs to be ready to move strongly into the presidency on January 23 -- and, having planned for the presidency, can project that readiness backward to October 1 onwards.

Between October 1 and Election Day on November 2, Team America's presidential candidate, John Kerry needs to accomplish two things and make them known to the American public:

1. He needs to set all major policies -- strategy. When a country is at war, as the USA is in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no time for the "transition" of the presidency. November 3 to January 22 needs to be spent preparing for implementation. That implementation needs to begin on January 23, 2005.

2. Therefore, John Kerry needs to select his Cabinet by November 2. For the public, Team America could announce as early as possible after October 1 the formation of a traditional "transition team" to select the president's cabinet. The target date for the Cabinet's announcement would be Monday, October 25 -- on which date could be announced formation of a special, even "secret team" devoted to presidential strategy, which had already formulated the basic strategy of the next presidency. These announcements should produced a sudden spike of confidence in the entire American public, just in time for the vote seven (7) days later.

Upon winning on November 2, Team America's president and cabinet would be ready to prepare not to begin making choises but to prepare for a series of action to be enacted effective January 23, 2005.

On January 23, 2005, at noon, President John Kerry would make a nationally (i.e., global) televised statement, analogous to President Georget W. Bush's speech on "Operation Iraqi Freedom" of March 19, 2003, which should even being with the same opening words: "My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of..."

Inaugration Day on Thursday, January 20, 2005, will be, appropriately, a public show that John Kerry has assumed the mantle of the presidency, but in these times of crisis, he needs to begin acting as president on January 21, 2005, in order to prove immediately to all people that a new president is in the White House, one who is a not only a clear thinker but doer, one who is ready to execute a well planned strategy, and one who is embarking on a new course for America in both domestic and foreign policies.

Some of these actions must include unilateral foreign policy actions -- but privately announced to all current US foreign allies, so that in strength America will "apologize" via course correction, just as America has (for all practical purposes) acted unilaterally of late, particularly in the action which most of the world regards as the "invasion" and now "occupation" of Iraq.

As a whole, this action plan will accomplish three major objectives for the Kerry/Edwards campaign:
1. Keep the Kerry/Edwards team focused on the goal of presidency
2. Leverage the goal into something which Team America can vote for on November 2
3. Keep the "transition period" focused on the goal during highly likely voting contention

The campaign messages by mid-October can shift into some of the new language (and images) Team America sports-oriented language, phrases, and slogans:
- Words like "win," "slam-dunk," "sure-fire"
- Phrases like "play to win," "join Team America," "off the bench"
- Slogans like "Join Team America," "Don't just be American: do American -- come play for Team America," "Make yourself heard. Join Team America"

Republicans tapped into the strong Team America spirit by rallying Americans behind George W. Bush as commander in chief during war and continue to maximize this position, particularly with the "stay the course" phrase to keep Americans behind Georget W. Bush in the Iraq War. Team America needs to make a deeper, more fundamental claim on this turf, recasting the president as coach not captain, and having him orchestrate the very serious, highly competitive games which challenge the USA: containment of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the use of American military power, international trade, jobs, health, environment... Team America needs to make sure all Americans understand the president as coach of the most powerful but also the most prudent nation on earth -- and that on January 21, 2005, President John Kerry will begin to right the "wrong course" upon which George W. Bush has set America.

Who leads Team America?

Don't say, "The Captain!"! A captain leads field players.

We're not looking for "Captain America"!

Think again.

The Coach.

The Coach directs field players. The Coach directs the captain. The Coach leads the team.

Compared to the Coach, a captain is someone who may -- one day -- have enough experience to lead the team. The Coach has both the brains and brawn to lead: s/he is thinker and doer. A captain executes tactics: the Coach outlines the strategy.

When George W. Bush jetted onto USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, to stand before a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished" and to announce "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," he let Americans know who was boss -- only we don't have political "bosses" in America (except the occasional glitch, like Tammany Hall). George W. Bush is no flyboy -- he cannot properly demonstrate that he even fufilled reserve duty as such. No doubt, George W. Bush wants to be a captain. He's been acting like a captain. Problem is, the president is not a captain: the president is a coach.

It gets worse. When George W. Bush announced "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," he could not have been more wrong.

And it gets still worse, because Georget W. Bush is not leader enough to admit that he was wrong. Americans started to know early on -- papers were being published publicly by US military experts (see August 15, 2003, paper "The Sunni Insurgency in Iraq" by Dr. Ahmed S. Hashim of the US Naval War College) -- that the Iraq War was bogging down into a Viet Nam. But to this date, George W. Bush cannot admit he was wrong. He would rather "stay the course" -- even if that course is a one-way road to hell -- a one-way road to hell for America, not for him, because he will not lose his millions, he will not be judged for his actions before a court of law, and he will not lose sons or daughters, nephews or nieces in this destructive, unfruitful war.

John Kerry has already been a captain, in time of war. After completing his education at one of our country's finest universities, Yale, John Kerry enlisted and served 1966-1969 in the US Navy, serving two tours of duty in Viet Nam and reaching the rank of lieutenant. (Personal naval records are available here online, in PDF format.)

For his service in the Viet Nam War, John Kerry was awarded three Purple Hearts. The Purple Heart was created by General George Washington for "outstanding valor and merit" and revived in 1932 for combat soldiers "wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy."

After Viet Nam, John Kerry served his country again, this time in government. From 1984 to the present, he has been a US senator from the state of Massachusetts. He is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's Sub-Commitee on Oceans, Fisheries, and the Environment, and ranking member on the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations' Sub-Committee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs -- among others. Sound complicated already? Thank God, John Kerry was a serious Yale student!

Between combat and government service, John Kerry performed the least thanked and most courageous civic duty of all: he publicly dissented. Dissent was once a great American tradition, made most famous in pre-Revolutionary War times by Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense (click here to read the third edition). In the process, he joined (VVAW) and later co-founded Vietnam Veterans of America.

John Kerry has accumulated enough experience to have the wisdom to change course:
- He came back from Viet Nam opposed to the war; over time, he decided to improve matters not by opposition but by changing from within: is that a flip-flop, Mr. Bush (Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rove)?
- As more factual information about Iraq came to light, he changed his outlook and strategy for Iraq: is that a flip-flop, Mr. Bush (Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rove)?

John Kerry is a doer and thinker. He is a man with experience and wisdom. With your minimal support -- with your vote -- you can empower a courageous American to further serve his country. John Kerry has the presence of mind and experience in action to know when it's time to push on ahead, when it's time to regroup, and when, if it becomes necessary, it's time to call it quits and move on elsewhere. These are presidential qualities. George Washington had them. Thomas Jefferson had them. Abraham Lincoln had them. Woodrow Wilson had them -- and pulled US troops out of Mexico. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had them -- and pulled US forces out of Haiti. Richard Nixon had them -- and pulled US troops out of Viet Nam (and later resigned as president in the face of his own personal defeat). Ronald Reagan had them -- and pulled US forces out of Lebanon. Bill Clinton had them -- and pulled US forces out of Somalia. With your support, John Kerry will make great decisions -- and help make this country loved as well as respected around the world once again. America can once again become a "good neighbor" to all.

Now, how do we get there by November 2 -- and January 23?

What is Team America?

Team America is the citizenry of the United States of America.

Team America is you and everyone around.

The question is: are you playing? Are you playing -- for Team America?

Because there is no bench for Team America. To sit out is to admit loss and defeat before a game has even begun.

How doe you play?

You vote. That simple. The Democracy of these greated united states grants the right to vote to all registered citizens. You can vote on at least three levels of government: local, state, and federal. Don't think of voting as a burden: do not think of voting as a right. Voting is a privilege, hard-won by the founders of this country and hard-maintained by their successors. Today, you are their successors. It is your privilege to maintain our great nation. If you simply vote, you add your two cents worth. You speak. You count. When nearly three hundred million Americans speak, directly or through voting family members or friends, we are a force to be reckoned with.

Join the stars of America. One star alone in the vast sky of night is lonely: a myriad of stars is splendor. Shine. Vote.

And, when you vote, you will find yourself strong -- strong because your voice becomes one of many that form a larger, unified chorus. Like a classical Greek play, a chorus directs the protagonists, the heroes of any play.

Next question is, what should Team America's leadership look like? Come see one vision...

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Why do we need Team America?

The Republican Party has spent more than half a century in building itself up. They have built up a pantheon of party philosophers such as Russell Kirk and have been supported by such steady powerhouses as National Review's founder William F. Buckley, Jr.. Recently, however, the party of American Conservatives has devolved into "Neo-Conservatism."

Concurrently, the Democratic Party has been coming apart at the seams -- since the heyday of the New Deal of the 1930s under US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). Whereas Republicans today have a "best practice" guide of party principles coupled with a party discipline that keeps most if not all members closely within the party line, Democrats currently exhibit no such unity or cohesion. This devolution was perhaps best exhibited recently by the DNC slogan "Anybody But Bush" or "ABB" (see Naomi Klein's article "Anybody but Bush - and then let's get back to work") -- the very notion of "anybody" translates effectively into somebody and even "nobody" -- nobody special. Is that who John Kerry is -- just "anybody but Bush"?

For these and other reasons, it is high time that Democrats find a unifying theme and message, for themselves and for all Americans. The theme presented on this blog is "Team America."